Jersey Shore summer rentals down as owners battle to make repairs following Sandy

Summer rentals are down, as owners race to make repairs after Sandy

Feb. 25, 2013

Tom Partyka of Plumsted is putting in at least eight hours a day into restoring his three rental homes on Webster Avenue in Seaside Heights, with the help of family and friends. / MARY FRANK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Tom Partyka of Plumsted shows the height the water rose to during superstorm Sandy in one of his rental homes on Webster Avenue in Seaside Heights. / MARY FRANK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Debris is hauled away outside one of the rental homes on Webster Avenue in Seaside Heights belonging to Tom Partyka of Plumsted. / PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM PARTYKA

This photo shows the original flooring being ripped up in one of the Seaside Heights rental homes belonging to Tom Partyka of Plumsted after superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on the Jersey Shore. / PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM PARTYKA

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Tom Partyka has bought three homes in Seaside Heights, turned them into rentals, and braced himself for the run-of-the-mill headaches that come with being a landlord: a party that gets a little out of hand, a wall that needs patching, a window that must be fixed.

The stock of the Shore’s summer homes, once simply spruced up with a fresh coat of paint, now need mold removal experts and electrical contractors, delaying what traditionally has been the first indicator of the upcoming tourism season: summer rentals.

Visitors who have made Shore vacations a long-standing tradition are watching their progress closely, hoping still to return so that they can pitch into the region’s recovery while enjoying their time along the beachfront.

But observers say they appear to be waiting to make their decisions until they can see if the beaches are replenished, the boardwalks are rebuilt or if they can find a rental that is inhabitable.

“Some (landlords) are telling us they’ll be ready by Memorial Day, others by the end of June,” said Jeffrey Hallamore, manager of Diane Turton Realtors’ office in Lavallette. “It’s really, truly a moving target.”

Laurie Sabella rents out two bungalows that she purchased in Manasquan in 2008. She remembers having a long debate with her real estate agent shortly after buying them about whether to allow tenants to have dogs, an issue that in retrospect seems trivial.

Water everywhere

When Sabella and her husband, a contractor, got their first glimpse of the homes nine days after Sandy struck, they could see the flood had reached eye-level. Water was in the top drawers of dressers and the microwave, too.

The Sabellas had flood insurance, but they weren’t eligible for federal aid; the properties were secondary residences. The homes had to be gutted, with Sabella’s husband doing most of the work. She thinks they will be ready in time for the summer.

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“We have everything picked out,” she said. “We know the colors. Everything is in order. Once he starts going (with the renovation), it’s going to have to go quick.”

The tourism industry generated $5.9 billion in Monmouth and Ocean counties in 2011, the last figures available, according to a report by Tourism Economics, a research group. And many local businesses at the end of last summer reported that 2012 was stronger.

Outsider view

Yet visitors from northern New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have been besieged since Sandy with stories of flooded homes that are barely standing, of iconic beachfront businesses that were forced to close, of politicians fighting with Congress to get financial aid.

What impact has it had? A survey of New Jersey residents by Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics released last Monday found 20 percent planned shorter visits this season. Of those, two-thirds cited Sandy as the primary reason.

Even diehards, though, can’t be sure. Phyllis Paolino, 60, of Hillsborough, said she has been visiting the Shore since her childhood. Now, she carves out a week each August when her friends and family gather in Seaside Heights to go to the beach during the day and stroll up and down the boardwalk at night.

The images she has seen on television have left her teary eyed. And she sounded as if she would sign up today to visit the Shore this summer, even without the boardwalk intact, if only to show her support. But the home she has rented – owned by Partyka – is a work in progress.

“I think we’ll wait it out a little bit,” Paolino said. “I think that’s what most people will do. It’s a shame because (owners of summer rentals and businesses) need to know people are coming.”

Uneven progress

Observers said the Shore is making uneven progress. Some towns such as Lavallette appear to be on track to make it by Memorial Day. Others, such as Mantoloking and the Ortley Beach section of Toms River, remain in rough shape.

Summer rental experts said they are faced with a season that likely will be touch and go, even well into the season.

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Chris Fotache, owner of the Middletown-based ShoreVacations.com, said visits to the summer rental website are down by about 20 percent compared with last year.

Meantime, Jeffrey Childers, a broker at Childers Sotheby’s International Realty based in the Normandy Beach section of Toms River, said rentals, typically about 75 percent full by this time, are only 15 percent to 20 percent full this year, he said.

“People are kind of in a wait-and-see mentality,” Childers said. “Will the area be open? Will the beaches be cleaned up? In the past several weeks we’ve seen a sharp increase in inquiries. I think there will be a late surge this year.”

Tom Partyka is assuming as much. He and friend Bob Patten, a contractor, drive each morning from Partyka’s Plumsted home to Seaside Heights, where they have been renovating Partyka’s three homes on Webster Avenue with the help of insurance proceeds and Partyka’s savings.

To an outsider, the project appears massive, particularly without a huge team of contractors to lend a hand. And the summer, which once seemed such a long time away, is creeping closer.

But Partyka hasn’t had much time to dwell. He said he is confident the homes will be ready for guests on April 1.

“I’m going to be fully booked, absolutely,” he said. “Anything less than that, I’d be disappointed.”